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Are they going to pose a lincoln talking out of both sides of his mouth?

Why don't you show that in the record?

"...Had he failed to to insist on abolition as a condition for peace negotiations, he explained, he would be guilty of treachery to the hundreds of thousands of African-Americans who had 'come bodily over from the rebel side to ours.' Such betrayal could not 'escape the curses of Heaven, or of any good man.' Apart from the moral issue, there was the practical consideration that without "the physical force which the colored people now give, and promise us,...neither the present, nor any coming administration, [can] save the Union."

"But now, if he followed their advice, he would have to do without the help of nearly 200,000 black men in the service of the Union. In that case 'we would be compelled to abandon the war in 3 weeks.' Practical considerations aside, there was the moral issue. How could anybody propose 'to return to slavery the black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee to their masters to conciliate the South?' "I should be damned in time and eternity for so doing,' he told his visitors (Gov. Randall, and Judge Mills, both from Wisconsin). "The world will know that I keep my faith to friends and enemies, come what will.'"

In fact, Lincoln was scrupulously honest.

I guess what galls the neo-rebs most about having a statue of President Lincoln in Richmond is that when Lincoln visited Richmond, he was cheered by black slaves. That's a bad thing, right?

What makes President Lincoln's refusal to abandon emancipation in the summer of 1864 even more laudable is that he was personally convinced that he would lose the 1864 election, and the Republican Party managers urged him to abandon emancipation.

But he wouldn't do it.

Walt

In fact, Lincoln was scrupulously honest.

So what explains why Lincoln himself wrote the the EP was unconsitutional, yet he still issued it? The same Lincoln that opined that the Executive could not coerce votes of the legislature, yet himself suppresed dissidents to prevent their voting against him? The same Lincoln that wrote that the decision of the court in the Dred Scott case was to be obeyed (before issuance), yet he afterwards wrote that the 7-2 decision was to be ignored? The same Lincoln that ordered the arrests of thousands despite the 1st Amendment protection? The same Lincoln that had hundreds of newspapers closed despite the "freedom of the press"? Are those the marks of an honest man?